Fayoum Oasis Tour Hidden Gem Wadi El Rayan & Tal der Wale

Faha was a lovely guide. We gotcoffee and snacks after our 7am pick up. Private new car to ourselves. It was a long day but well worth it. Fun 4wding up and down sand dunes a real buzz. We got to the whales np before most cars. Was busy as we left. Finished with a large delicious lunch at 2pm. Great trip for people of all ages. Back at 4.30

The tour was perfect . the guide was very attentive and explained the sights well . maybe he could more anticipate explanations before arriving on the sights and more explain the tour. we started with 2 hours drive without a word. (apart from conversations in Arabic with the driver) the driver at first drove a bit with Egyptian habits but after talking about it the return was very nice the valley of the whales is fantastic and even 2x1h of 4c4 pass quickly in the fantastic landscape of the desert the meal was hearty but basic and unfortunately if we do tricks always a bit the same

overall good experience but we were unlucky to have a guide who was unprofessional, lazy, inexperienced, and absent. My partner and I had the Overnight camping and safari experience since we wanted to experience the sunset, stargazing, and sunrise in the desert. The camping this operator works with is the “White Desert Camp”. Drinks were not included, and honestly I didn’t hear my guide mentioning anything about this until my 3rd tea in the evening, but maybe he mentioned it before and I just didn’t hear it. The food was okay, big portions, and flexible with meal times. The hut that we were given was great, with aircon and fan (though we didn’t need to use them as the temperature inside was perfect). We had a toilet and shower in the habitation as well, which made the experience even better. The sand boarding is at camp on a sand dune just behind the bar, it’s pretty short, maybe 5 metres, you can only sit on the boards because they are mostly broken. Once you do it a couple time and get full of sand, you will have enough of it. The 4x4 experience was a lot of fun and our driver was very experienced. The waterfall is nice, short, but still nice to see. We were taken with the 4x4 on top of the Jabal El Medawara which is a mountain that looks on the lakes, it was a great view. The valley of whales was impressive, it was very interesting to know and see fossils of sea creatures in the desert. Unfortunately, we didn’t spend much time in the open air space because our guide seemed to be in a rush to leave. We stopped in the middle of the street to have a quick look and take some pictures at the Qarun lake. This wasn’t anything special, it was a 5-10mins stop. Once thing to mention that our guide didn’t, and we just found out by ourselves, is that this is one of the oldest natural lakes in the world, originally it had fresh water, and Nile like fish, but in the course of the millennia it became salt water changing entirely the ecosystem that lives in it. We were not taken to the Tunis village, even when I asked about it, I was told no by the guide. Said the above about our experience in Fayoum, our experience with the guide was disappointing. Originally, another person was supposed to be our guide, though the evening before the guide informed me someone else would be replacing them because of some personal problems. Our new guide was 20 minutes late with the driver in the morning of the pickup because of traffic. Whilst being late itself didn’t bother me much, what I didn’t appreciate is that I wasn’t made aware until I messaged them to let them know we were in the lobby. It would have been nice to be let know the ETA as soon as they knew it was not as agreed, since I could have been more relaxed when getting ready. We were greeted with a bag each containing 2 bottles of water, one croissant, and a pack of crisps. This was a nice gesture. The drive to Fayoum was about 3 hours as we stopped to get some breakfast (I don’t think this was included in the tour, so a nice thing to add). Throughout the car trip, our guide either slept or listened to music with his headphones, sometimes we would be asking questions and the driver had to poke him because he wasn’t listening to us. I understand it’s a long drive and it can get boring, though if you are a guide, you should be more present or at least ask the group if they would want to hear about the history or else. Throughout the entire time he was with us, he was either sleeping or on his phone, we spoke more with the driver than the guide. The guide actually told me that technically he wasn’t even a qualified guide since he didn’t pass his exam yet. This was confirmed by his lack of knowledge of the area since he couldn’t answer many of our questions. So I think that we got just unlucky that the original guide couldn’t make it, maybe we would have had a better experience. On top of this, his English was quite poor, many times we were just giving up on asking questions or trying to understand the answers. I think this guy was very young so maybe not very mature and professional. The touring company should make sure that only “professional guides” are assigned, because it would have been the same to have just a driver for this experience. The driver was much more friendly, chatty, and kind even if his English was also poor, but at least he tried and made an effort to ensure we were doing great. A thing that I didn’t like, he was often on his phone, texting, choosing music, or doing other things, whilst driving, sometimes making us feel unsafe, especially knowing how people drive in Egypt, though possibly this is just how everyone drives.

With a 4-Wheel Driver through the desert that was once a sea - impressive. At Wadi El-Hitan there is the Fossils and climate Museum , built with Tunisian architecture. A video gives a very good overview of the Earth's history of this northeastern region of the Sahara. Outside, bones from different fossils can be viewed. Impressive!

Excellent excursion to the Fayoum Oasis and the Valley of the Whales. Thanks to Ayman for his quality driving in his magnificent car, and to Mohammed for the 4x4. Thank you to our guide Mahmoud for his visit, explanations and availability. We ate very well at the camp and enjoyed the scenery despite a few hours by car 🙏🌿

A wonderfully organized tour with stunning desert scenery and a fascinating visit to Whale Valley, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Amn, our guide, was excellent — knowledgeable and attentive, making the whole experience smooth and enriching. Highly recommend to anyone looking to explore Egypt beyond the usual paths.

We had a guide of extraordinary kindness and who spoke French. The scenery was beautiful and the Bedouin camp very authentic. For us, it was our favorite experience of our entire trip to Cairo.

We booked this for our first day and we had a great time with our guide, and now friend Mohamed. He was awesome, very hospitable, no was any trouble and best of all, he had a great sense of humour, nothing was too much trouble. The day was full and we enjoyed the time being shown around by a great bloke. Would recommend going with him again

Such an amaaaaazing experience. Booking and amending some parts of the tour to suit our needs was very easy and went smoooth. During the tour everything was amaaazing and much better than expected. The tour guide was knowledgeable, decent and very accommodating. Mariam (the amazing girl i booked with her) kept checking with us that everything is perfect and as per what we needed ❤️ it felt like a family member checking over us. We drove through the amazing white sand dessert, stayed in the camp for lunch and breakfast the next day. We saw the valley of whales and the vley of Rayan, the magic lake, the waterfall and the other lakes. The trip was outstanding and one of a kind!!!! Definitely, I recommend the trip.

Ayman the tour guide was very knowledgeable in his history of the area in Fayyoum. The 4 x 4 experience in the desert was amazing